It is absolutely impossible to refer to Stephen King, the famous novelist from Maine, and not think of the horror genre. Not surprisingly, he has built the vast majority of his successful literary career and even his image as a writer with the foundations on it. Readers who have enjoyed his work for decades have had certain of his books since Carrie (1974) on a lay altar, and perhaps we could mention The Shining (1977), Misery (1987), Dolores Claiborne (1996) or A Bag of Bones. (1998). But also the wonderful It (That) .
However, surely many of his followers would be quite surprised to learn that Stephen King was on the verge of abandoning horror after it was publish this latest novel. An interview made by Stefan Kanfer in October 1986 for Time magazine is very revealing on this matter. What he conveys in it is his doubts about his scope as a novelist, and he compared himself to “Jack London, who said, in effect, 'I'm not a great writer, but I am a terrific maker'.” “That's me,” he admitted at the time.
Stephen King's tribulations over his own talent
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“I've had about three original ideas in my life,” said Stephen King. “The rest of them were rebounds. I feel the limitations of where my talents are ”. Especially when he compared them to those of the incipient Clive Barker, author of the six volumes of the Books of Blood (1984-1985) or the three installments of the Hellraiser series (1986-2018). “You read it with a book in one hand and a motion sickness bag in the other. That man is not kidding. He has a sense of humor, and he is not a fool. He is better than me now. He is much more energetic”, affirmed his colleague.
Perhaps he was ruminating that, if he could not improve what was present, he did not see the point in continuing with his contributions to literary terror. But, in addition, it seemed to him that a novel as creepy and beautiful as It is “a very poorly constructed book.” Thus, he confessed that it could be his last horror story: “For now, as far as the Stephen King Book of the Month Club is concerned, this is the time for the liquidation sale . Everything must go.” We are glad, therefore, that he did not comply with it. We would have missed out on a lot of enjoyment in the future.
